Wildlife UK Forum - Discuss the UK countryside and wildlife

Here is our very first hoglet of the year, found on the fire station yard yet again!!! It was captured by a burly fireman under orders from the station clerk.
Every year we get these little hoglets coming out from under a portacabin on the yard & obviously something is wrong if they are out during the day. The fire station incidentally is on quite a busy main road & it is in the centre of town with no real gardens around it.
Sadly the lady that who took them in for hedgehog rescue has died but we contacted the centre & the little one is being collected in the next couple of hours as the owner of the rescue is in the area collecting hedgehogs from a couple of vets not that far away.
Reminder:- if you find a hedgepig that is out during the day something is not right (in this case we just think that it is hungry which is good news)
Do NOT give them milk to drink , water only & if you feed them cat food use some that is NOT fish based. I know you all knew that...........PS it was a little boy aged approx 6 weeks
[]

That's lovely to see - did they come & collect it? I saw my first hedgehog in years up the road a few weeks ago, it had just gone midnight & I was out star gazing!

That's a lovely picture - he looks healthy enough

I've not seen one in the wild for a very long time.

Yes , The lady came to collect it, otherwise it would have meant us going to Rochdale in the rush hour , we would have done though.She had 4 others from the local vets also. She says that they have just over 200 in at the moment.To raise the profile & educate people on hedgehogs she also goes round schools, country fairs & conservation areas etc giving talks on her work. Their website is found at:

http://www.hedgehogrescue.org.uk/index1.htm

Incidentally the water & food containers are lids off my pond food containers about 4" in diameter which shows how small he is. The hedgepig was OK just hungry but he was a little dehydrated. He will be kept at rescue, fed until he is a good weight.Then depending on when that is, in relation to the hibernation period he will be released in a safe area that they use. If he misses his time slot because of the weather he will be kept over winter. I think they need to be about a pound & a quarter in weight, if I remember right.